Holiday in Danger (31 page)

“Yeah, something’s wrong all right.” Ivy’s eyes narrowed and she pointed her phone straight at Summer. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone. You just had to come back here and stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Summer backed up a step. “What are you talking about?”

“Your little late-night party with Blake and Devin.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“What did you do? Beg them to fuck you again? A trip down memory lane? You think that’ll be enough to win either of them back? You think they just sat around waiting for you all this time?”

“What’s your problem?”

“The permit isn’t going to be approved. All because of you and your stupid TP party on the beach. Did you screw them down there like last time?”

Summer’s eyes would have bugged out her head if they could. “How do you even know about that?”

“So you did! God, I should have known Devin would do something so stupid.” Ivy waved her phone at Summer’s body. “I don’t get what he sees in you. I run every day. Haven’t had a beer in three years. And he dumped me! But you! You show up and in twenty-four hours are doing the nasty!”

Summer’s mouth fell open. “You and Devin?”

“What? He didn’t tell you that either? Figures.” Ivy hiked her white higher up her arm. “Yeah, me and Devin. For over a year. Until he ended it cold turkey. No explanation.”

Summer swallowed. He’d dated a near supermodel for a year. She might not be the nicest woman, but she could give any runway girl a contest. And Summer thought she’d had a chance? That they’d waited for her? What a joke. She crossed her arms. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t know. And the TP thing? All Devin’s idea. I swear.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “Right. Ian doesn’t have time for this! He flew all the way from China just for his sister’s wedding. This bar is
my
project! And now he’s down at the beach cleaning up your mess. You better hope to God it’s enough. Otherwise, the bar won’t ever open and it’ll be all your fault.”

“It will not. And If I hear one more word like that from your mouth, Ivy, you can kiss your involvement goodbye.” Blake stood at the open door of his car, face somber as she stared at the blonde.

“Blake! I thought you were down at the beach. Ian said—”

“Ian needs a lesson in keeping his mouth shut, too.”

“It’s okay, Blake, really. I—” Summer paused when he held up a hand.

“No, it’s not. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Leave? With him? Summer looked back at the spa. “What about Mandy?”

“I’m sure she’ll survive. Hop in.”

Summer glanced at Ivy. If steam could come out of her ears, it would. With a deep breath, Summer flashed her a smile. “Thanks, Blake. I’d love to.”

BLAKE

T
HE
CAR
PULLED
into a spot on the edge of the public beach. Blake killed the engine and turned in the seat. “I’m sorry if Ivy gave you a hard time. She was out of line.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” From the way she crossed her legs away from him and how she wouldn’t look him in the eye, Blake knew she was nervous. Unsure. He wanted—no he
needed
—to change that. Fuck her insecurities and doubt. After last night? She wasn’t running away. Not again.

Blake ground his teeth together. Half of his body—the one with the raging hard-on every time he glanced her way—wanted to lunge across the seat. Pin her to the damn leather headrest and kiss away every ounce of resolve.

He cracked his knuckles instead. “What is it?”

Summer shifted in the seat and looked out the window. Her fingers ran over the edge of her dress, folding the yellow cotton up and down. “So Ivy and Devin. They dated?”

Shit. Isn’t that a mood killer.
He eased back in his seat and ran his hand through his short hair. “Where’d you hear about that?”

“Where do you think?”

Brake frowned. “Ivy.”

“You betcha. She acted like she still had some claim on him—like she’d dated him and now he was off-limits.”

Blake snorted. “That woman’s psycho.”

Summer turned to him. “Then why are you in business together?”

“We’re not. Not officially. Ian gave us the capital to open the bar. But Ivy trots along like his little sidekick, fawning all over him every chance she gets. Now he’s brought her in to decorate.” Blake rolled his eyes. “It’s a bit of a challenge.”

“What’s Devin think about it?”

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. When you left—”
Fuck.
He hadn’t wanted to go there. Talk about the past? What happened after Summer fled to New York? No way in hell.

But one look at her bottom lip as she worked her teeth back and forth. The rise and fall of her chest as she waited for an answer. Summer was the worst type of truth serum.

“What?”

“We—took it hard. Really hard. Devin shacked up with Ivy pretty quick. I don’t know why. I guess she was in the right place at the right time.”

“You mean at Swallow Tail?”

“Yeah. With us living here and commuting to school, Devin saw her all the time.”

Summer nodded. Her green eyes darkened and she glanced at Blake’s hands. “And you? Did you hook up with anyone?”

Blake focused on the gear shift. “I never connected with anyone long term.”

“But there were others?”

He bit the inside of his cheek. “Yeah.”

“How many?”

“Enough.” The tension in her jaw said it all.
Me and my damn big mouth.
“We didn’t think you were ever coming back. Summer, I—”

“It’s okay.” She tried to smile. “I get it. I don’t have any claim on you. Either of you. I’m the one who left.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t—”

She shrugged. “It’s been four years. It’s not like I didn’t date. I get it.”

“No, you don’t.” He reached out and took her by the chin, turning her face to him until her green eyes found his. “You don’t get it at all.”

Fuck words. All they ever did was add barriers and misunderstandings. Fear. He leaned forward, fingers holding tight, forcing her to stay put. To accept him. Blake’s lips crashed into hers and there it was—the spark. The electric current blasting through both their bodies. He ran his hand up her face and into her hair.

Yes. This.
Lips and skin. Searing heat. He couldn’t tell her what she meant to him, but damn it he could show her. One kiss at a time.

Summer hit his chest with a fist. He kissed her harder. Deeper. Tongue swiping across her plump lips. Teeth scraping her skin. She hit him again.

At last, he backed off. “Do you still want to push me away?”

Her breath came hot and fast on his cheek. “I should. I’m no good for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m all messed up. I don’t know what I want.”

“Yes, you do.”

“What about Devin?”

Blake flared his nostrils but kept his voice even. “What about him?”

Summer’s lips fell open and she blinked. Once. Twice. Her voice barely registered over the sound of Blake’s heart. “I don’t know.”

He could work with that. One touch of his keys and the doors unlocked. “Come on, let’s take a walk.”

Blake opened the car door and walked around to help her out the other side. It didn’t matter how many times they’d replay the same conversation. How many times Summer hesitated. She was his. It was only a matter of time.

For years, he’d tried to ignore it. Bury it. But it didn’t take a damn rocket scientist to figure out why he’d never had another girlfriend.

A quick fuck after closing? Yeah. A booty call for a week or two? He’d done it. And few other things he’d rather not remember, too.

But Summer? She was his girl—his forever. She stepped out into the bright noon sun and took his hand. Step by step, down the rock stairs to the sand. The same beach where it’d all started. The same beach where Summer and Blake and Devin gave in to the rush.

Devin.
Blake glanced at Summer as she looked out over the ocean. His best friend. The only other man he’d shared a woman with. Summer fit them both so well. If she couldn’t accept it—a relationship with both men…Blake pushed the what ifs aside.

They’d cross that bridge when they came to it. He had work to do first.

Summer slipped off her shoes and walked out into the tide. Foamy water washed over her feet and Blake smiled. The ocean and a beautiful woman. He couldn’t ask for anything more.

No matter how many times he came down to the water, the Cove spoke to him. It wrapped around his heart and pumped his blood through his veins with the crash of each wave. He wished Summer felt it. The pull of the current. The rush of the water. She’d never leave if she did.

Blake kicked off his flip flops and joined her in the surf. “Tell me about New York.”

She glanced up and the ocean sparkled in her eyes. “I’m sorry?”

“The last four years. How has it been?”

“The truth?” She looked out over the water. “Lonely. I live in a city surrounded by millions of people and I can’t find a single one I connect with. Not one person who’s more than a caricature. A prop. It’s like they’ve all been set up—actors on a stage walking in on cue. No substance. No feels.”

She shook her head. “But that’s crazy, right?”

“No, it’s not. It’s honest.”

“What about you?”

Blake shrugged. “I can’t say I’ve done any better here.”

She turned to him. “But you’ve got Devin. And the bar and your shop.”

“I don’t have what matters.”

She swallowed. “What are you saying?”

“You know exactly what I’m saying.”

“Blake—”

“Shh. I’m done talking.”

Blake wrapped his hands around her waist and in an instant, she was airborne.

“Put me down!” She thwacked her open palms on his shoulders, but he just laughed her off.

No way. She wasn’t leaving the beach before he’d made it clearer than the blue sky above how much he wanted her to stay. “Stop fighting, Summer. Give into what you want. What you need.”

He hoisted her up until she grabbed hold of his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist. “That’s better.”

“It’s ridiculous.”

“No. It’s sexy as hell and you’re done arguing.”

She pouted, but Blake just smiled. “I’ve missed that pout.”

“Hmph.”

He laughed and climbed over an outcrop of rock before ducking into a hidden sandy inlet. From either the parking lot above or the main beach below, they were hidden. Secreted away from the rest of Midnight Cove with nothing but the sound of the ocean and the sand for company.

“We can’t do this.”

“Yes, we can.” Blake took Summer by the waist and she slid down his body.

“Someone will come by.”

“Then I’m not wasting any time.” He wrapped his hands around her, pressing her close and backing her up. Her feet slid through the sand and in three steps, they’d found the side of a boulder. Smooth from high tide crashing against the side, it was perfect.

He let her go and she leaned against the rocks. Her lip quivered and Blake dove in, kissing the tremor away before she could tell him to stop. To slow down. Anything.

If she couldn’t admit what they had—a connection that ran as deep as the current off the shore and as high as the waves on the best surf morning—then he’d drag it out of her. One orgasm at a time.

* * *

SUMMER

His hands tore up her sides and Summer gasped into his lips.
Oh my God.
It’d been one thing when they’d all gotten carried away and ended up in bed.

But here? Out on the sand with the bright midday sun? The waves crashed a few steps away. The sand buried her feet in hot grit. Midnight Cove wrapped around them like a rocky cocoon.

Blake pressed her into the rock, chest against hers, lips insistent. Needy. He swiped his tongue across her lips, forcing them open. Diving inside, he swirled his tongue, flicking against her own, commanding her to surrender. To open.

With a dangerous grin, Blake ran his hands up Summer’s dress, slinking the soft cotton up her sides until it pooled around her waist. He grabbed her naked thighs—rough and tight—plumping her flesh as he ground his erection against her mound.
Damn
.

He’d never been so raw—so intense and primal and overpowering. Summer’s lips fell open and she let out a gasp as Blake’s hard shaft parted her folds with every rub.

Up and down he rocked against her and her muscles clenched with need. Pinning her to the rock in the Cove might be reckless—terrible, even—but in the best way. Screw the danger. Summer wasn’t stopping.

Every buck of his hips and her panties grew wetter. Her need edged higher. Her discretion crumbled. A moan tore up her throat, she tossed her head back and forth, and it took all her control not to cry out.

“Blake, please.” The words came out in a hiss through her teeth. “You’re driving me crazy.”

He kissed her ear and ground against her. “Good.” With a fast jerk, he grabbed the straps of her dress and her bra and slid them down her arms. His lips followed, snaking down her cheek and neck, nudging aside the cotton fabric to kiss the tops of her breasts.

“God damn, you’re so beautiful. Sexy.” He groaned and yanked harder. Her breasts bounced free of her bra and her nipples pebbled in the ocean air.